Gospel Week Message 1

Romans 6-8

The Gospel

Intro

We love whats new. Thats scary. We like cool sounding words and cool sounding ideas. BUT BE SO CAREFUL. Especially in a day like today.

Throughout history we have seen time and time again where there would be these cool fads (cool preachers who would preach something exciting)

Im so serious, if its a new teaching, its probably not biblical. The goal in carrying Chrisitianity through the centuries isn’t preaching new messages each week, its preaching the same message each week. CHRIST AND HIM CRUCIFIED

What is the gospel?

We can have many ideas of what the Gospel is, and none of them are wrong, but when people ask me what the Gospel is, I want to recite verbatum what the Bible says it is, not what ive heard around the block

Why does familiarity produce indifference. We love being stimulated with the new thing. You know when Paul says that I determined to know nothing among you except christ and Him crucified? Surely He is familiar with the message, surely He wakes up and has temptaions to say, OH, I know that already. THEN THE QUESTION ISNT DO WE KNOW THE GOSPEL, THE QUESTION IS HAVE WE TASTED IT?

What is it that will cause us to NEVER sit there immobile after the gospel is preached. What is it that will cause us to never again not feel the weight of this message. The problem our society has is not “what is the Gospel”, The problem we have is why is it not electrocuting us to revive from being dead in our sins?

Raise your hand if you have ever heard the Gospel and have been indifferent towards it. Just stone cold numb. Raise your hand if you’ve ever felt that way.

Like do you feel the flesh being ripped from His back? Do you experience the blood flowing from the side of His corpse onto your feeble head? Do you GET IT?? Do you understand what He has done??

If you are able to hear the cross and not be affected by it. The issue isn’t your inability to see where the Gospel takes you to, your issue is your inability to see where the Gospel takes you from.

Im gonna say that again

The issue isn’t your inability to see where the Gospel takes you to, your issue is your inability to see where the Gospel takes you from.

If you are numb to the reality of the Gospel you do not yet understand where you would be apart from it.

THAT IS WHY WE MUST START OUR GOSPEL PROCLAMATION NOT WITH THE REALITY OF HEAVEN BUT WITH THE REALITY OF HELL.

The Curse

No one likes starting here. But we have to, why? We will NEVER understand the weight of the Gospel until we understand how undeserving we are of it

We were sentenced to hell. Don’t move so fast past this.

Some people in our present day like to downplay hell. We like to soften it. In antiquity, death was so common. They saw people die on a weekly basis, now in present day America, were soft. We hardly ever experience death. We dont go to war, we don’t fight for our freedom, our ancestors did that.

We are scared of the objective truth so we change it to fit what we are more comfortable with it being.

I’m going to show you from the Bible what Hell is really like.

Revelation 21:8 “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.””

Matthew 13:42, 50: Those in hell are thrown into a fiery furnace

Mark 3:12; 9:43: Those in hell burn with unquenchable fire

Mark 9:48: "Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched"

Matthew 25:41: Jesus says, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels"

Matthew 5:22: Jesus calls it "the hell of fire"

Revelation 19:20: The beast and the false prophet are thrown alive into a fiery lake of burning sulfur

2 Peter 2:4: God sent angels to hell in chains of darkness to be held for judgment

Then when we understand thats what we get, then we can get to the good part

Romans 1:16–17 ESV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

What is the Gospel? (the power of God)

Who is it for? (everyone)

Who does what? (believes)

What does the Gospel reveal / produce? (righteousness)

What is required for righteousness to be produced (from faith for faith) (beginning with and ending with faith)

The righteous shall live by faith

1 Corinthians 15:1–5 ESV

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.